William Archer letter to Sir John Martin-Harvey, 1915 April 13

TEL 664 MUSEUM 27, Fitzroy Square, W. Private 13 April 1915 Dear Martin Harvey, I enclose a letter of which you are quite at liberty to make what use you think fit; but many things combine to render it impossible for me to undertake such an article as you suggest. My least difficulty is that my mind has been so entirely switched off these subjects by the war that I could scarcely recover the mood for such work. More important is the fact that I only saw the OEDIPUS once, on its first production -- how many years ago? -- that I have a very bad memory for details of production & acting, & that, having no opportunity for writing about it at the time, I had nothing to impress such details on my mind. Surely you could get one of the critics who wrote about it at the time to make up a fresh article on the basis of what he then wrote; & if you have good material for illustration, you might get it into one of the American magazines. But I am afraid that won't be quite easy. If your tour begins early in the autumn, the thing ought to be take in hand promptly, for the illustrated magazines are made up months in advance. Will you forgive me if I note the points I didn't quite like. They were (1) the Chorus -- I thought this frightfully difficult problem was even less successfully solved than in previous productions. (2) Your rushing down from the palace to meet the Shepherd (or was it the Messenger?) (3) I thought the effect at the end would have been at once grander & less intolerably painful if you had very greatly softened the lights. I can see no reason either of art or convenience against doing so. Yours very truly William Archer I congratulate you on your recruiting work.

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TEL 664 MUSEUM 27, Fitzroy Square, W. Private 13 April 1915 Dear Martin Harvey, I enclose a letter of which you are quite at liberty to make what use you think fit; but many things combine to render it impossible for me to undertake such an article as you suggest. My least difficulty is that my mind has been so entirely switched off these subjects by the war that I could scarcely recover the mood for such work. More important is the fact that I only saw the OEDIPUS once, on its first production -- how many years ago? -- that I have a very bad memory for details of production & acting, & that, having no opportunity for writing about it at the time, I had nothing to impress such details on my mind. Surely you could get one of the critics who wrote about it at the time to make up a fresh article on the basis of what he then wrote; & if you have good material for illustration, you might get it into one of the American magazines. But I am afraid that won't be quite easy. If your tour begins early in the autumn, the thing ought to be take in hand promptly, for the illustrated magazines are made up months in advance. Will you forgive me if I note the points I didn't quite like. They were (1) the Chorus -- I thought this frightfully difficult problem was even less successfully solved than in previous productions. (2) Your rushing down from the palace to meet the Shepherd (or was it the Messenger?) (3) I thought the effect at the end would have been at once grander & less intolerably painful if you had very greatly softened the lights. I can see no reason either of art or convenience against doing so. Yours very truly William Archer I congratulate you on your recruiting work.